title: Racial and ethnic differences in childhood asthma treatment in the United States.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine racial-ethnic differences in asthma controller medication use among insured U.S. children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Linked nationally representative data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (2005-2008), the 2000 Decennial Census, and the National Health Interview Survey (2004-2007).
  
  
  METHODS
  The study quantifies the portion of racial-ethnic differences in children's controller use that are attributable to differences in need, enabling and predisposing characteristics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Non-Hispanic black and Hispanic children were less likely to use controllers than non-Hispanic white children. Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition results indicated that observable characteristics explain less than 40 percent of the overall differential in controller use between non-Hispanic whites and non-Hispanic blacks. In contrast, observable characteristics explain more than two-thirds (71.3 percent) of the overall non-Hispanic white-Hispanic differential in controller use. For non-Hispanic blacks, a majority of the explained differential in controller use were attributed to enabling characteristics. For Hispanics, a significant portion of the explained differential in controller use was attributed to predisposing characteristics. In addition, a larger portion of the differential in controller use was explained by observable characteristics for publicly insured non-Hispanic black and Hispanic children.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The large observed differences in controller use highlight the continuing challenges of ensuring that all U.S. children have access to quality asthma care.
authors.affiliation: Division of Modeling and Simulation, Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD.
authors.forename: Eric M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Sarpong
authors.forename: G Edward
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000367:Age Factors; D001249:Asthma / Q000208:ethnology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006304:Health Status; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Children; asthma controller medications; decomposition; insurance status; race-ethnicity